madeleine

mad-e-leine · noun

imported

Definitions

noun

  1. 1.

    A small French sponge cake baked in a shell-shaped mold.

  2. 2.

    A female given name of French origin.

Forms

plural: madeleines

Phrases & expressions

  • Proustian madeleine — Something that triggers a rush of memories, from Marcel Proust's famous passage.

Related words

See also: cake, madeline

Etymology

From French madeleine, possibly named after a 19th-century pastry cook named Madeleine Paulmier. As a name, from Hebrew Magdalene ("of Magdala").